Eff the F Word

Smoking in Mad Men.

Saying "gay" in the new Vince Vaughan movie.

The dreaded "n" word in Roots.

For fear of overquoting the ladies of The View, are we as a society expecting too much from our entertainment sources?

Musicians like Eminem and Marilyn Manson were vilified after Columbine for allegedly putting homicidal thoughts into the impressionable minds of the high school shooters. Britney Spears was charged with corrupting school girls around the globe after the debut of her "Hit Me Baby One More Time" video (I still have the skirt). Shows like "Gossip Girl" and "90210" appear to glorify premarital sex and underage drinking, thereby, influencing their viewers to do the same.

Or is it all crap?

I can guarantee that underage sex was around long before "Gossip Girl", "The OC" or even "Leave It To Beaver". That last title alone was suggestive enough for some mid-50's teens. And Eminem wasn't the first person to verbalize his hate for an ex-wife.

So why is it that the PTA's of the world are looking to Hollywood as the reason for their children's corruption?

I agree that Miley Cyrus' pole dance at the Teen Choice Awards wasn't the wisest decision. Nor were her half nude pictures with her father in Vanity Fair. They are southern, after all.

However, neither of those decisions should affect whether or not Susie Q from Springfield, MO decides to sext a boy from her 5th grade class in order to get his attention. The fact that she's sexting at all with little to no parental supervision is the real issue here.

I know technology's gotten way out of hand and parents are having issues keeping up. And with artists like Justin Bieber writing lyrics about getting a girl's first dance as a euphemism for her first..."dance"...it's understandable that moms and dads feel like they are at a loss for control. But that doesn't mean that we should censor ourselves completely just because society is choosing to march onward.

I recently learned that the movie Roots has bleeped out the "n" word due to it's un-PCness. As a half African-American (don't you wish you knew what the other half was?), I think this is absurd. The whole point of Roots is to highlight a section of our American history that cannot be erased and to demonstrate the idiocy of bigotry and hate. As such, the "n" word is actually an integral part of the movie's overarching message.

To bleep it out would be like separating Mary Kate from Ashley Olsen. One just doesn't make sense without the other.

Critics have also jumped on Mad Men for romanticizing smoking and drinking on the job. But without a glass of scotch, could any of us REALLY get through our work day? I know I certainly couldn't.

While I agree that folks like "The Girls Next Door" are a blight on humanity (just the new ones, Kendra's cool), I think we may have leaned a bit too far to the right.

We can't seriously blame Kanye West for inspiring all the d-bags of the world. And we can't blame Marilyn Manson for causing two disturbed young men to make horrific decisions. What we can do is take responsibility for our own families and hit the off button during TV hour if you don't like Katy Perry's boobaliciousness on Sesame Street.

Meanwhile, I will continue to drink my scotch during the work day and whip my hair back and forth because I want to - and not because Willow Smith is just so damn infectious with her hot beats.